1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and systems for use in database systems. In particular, the invention provides methods, apparatuses and systems for more effectively and efficiently accessing stored attributes and especially spatial data.
2. Prior Art
Different database schemas often store spatial data in a proprietary manner. This previously made it impossible to generically access spatial data stored in a proprietary manner, for example, in order to show the data on a map. One would have to write database-specific code for each database schema and data type in order to access the spatial data. This is time consuming and inconvenient. For oil and gas software applications, such data types might include well point locations, well deviation surveys, and seismic lines, to name a few. Other (non-spatial) data is also sometimes stored in a proprietary manner and is subject to the same problems.